The Wolf Pack basketball players did not fetch their post-game meal and go home following a victory over Radford on Sunday night at Lawlor Events Center.

Instead, they grabbed their food and stayed in the locker room for film study to scout Nevada's next foe. Tuesday’s game against UC Davis was only 50 hours away and Eric Musselman wasn’t thrilled with his team’s 15-point win over Radford, so there was no time to waste in preparing for the Wolf Pack's next test.

“If we play like this, we’re not winning, I can tell you that,” Musselman said of facing UC Davis on the heels of a sloppy win over Radford win.

The victory did not fill Musselman with joy, but rather raised question marks about where his team is at as it nears the end of non-conference play. At 9-2 and among the top 20 teams in the RPI, the Wolf Pack is in pretty good position overall, but it is coming off its worst game of the season – from a level of play consideration.

“We have to get a lot better,” Musselman said. “So many different areas. Even little things like we don’t tell teammates what the play call is and I’ll tell one player and he’ll listen and not echo it to a teammate. The most simple, mundane things. It’s up to them. We’re going to coach them every day and tell them exactly what we have to do.

"But, at the end of the day, they have to do a better job communicating, they have to do a better job getting to their spots because the referee hands the ball to the opposition whether they’re inbounding the ball or we’re inbounding the ball. Even just simple out-of-bounds defense and out-of-bounds offense.”

From a macro level, Musselman wasn’t happy with his team’s shot selection, willingness to pass, post defense or on-ball perimeter defense against Radford.

“We have major issues in a lot of different areas,” Musselman said. “We just have to get a lot better than where we’re at.”

The players said a combination of final examinations, an eight-day break between games and facing a lower-level opponent in Radford after back-to-back games against Top 25 teams led to the uneven performance against the Highlanders. The Wolf Pack hopes Sunday's game was just the result of knocking off some rust after its longest layoff of the season.

“Just coming out a little rusty, a cumulative of a l lot of things as far as finals go, coming off losses, regrouping and being off for eight days, that’s kind of what you get,” guard Kendall Stephens said. “You kind of get rusty, unforced turnovers. I thought we could have done a better job defensively. That’s something that you shouldn’t see much wavering from game to game. Offense will come and go, but I thought we should have been a little more solid defensively. But, it is what it is and we just have to bounce back and learn from this. We know we could have played better, but a win’s a win and we’re thankful for that, but there are some things we need to tweak.”

The Wolf Pack will try and implement those tweaks against UC Davis (7-3), which is 36th in the RPI. The Big West team has only played two top-100 RPI opponents this season – Utah Valley State and Washington – and lost both of those games. The Aggies did beat Washington State of the Pac-12 and swept a pair of games with Pacific – both four-point wins – against a Tigers team Nevada beat by 15 on the road.

“I know Davis very well,” Musselman said. “I don’t need any notes or anything. T.J. Shorts gets in the lane. He has great quickness. He pushes the pace. (Chima) Moneke inside is the best interior player we’ve played all year. Good rebounder. He’s active, he’s bouncy. No. 5 (Siler Schneider) is a really, really good player all around. He can shoot the three, a really smart player, their glue guy, and they have two guys off the bench who can shoot it.”

Stephens said Nevada’s focus against UC Davis has to start on the defense end.

“I think we’re continuing to learn how to stop runs and weather that,” Stephens said. “I think defensively we still have to put more emphasis as a team. We kind of stray away from the scouting report a little too much in short stretches. If you’re going to get beat, get beat doing it the coaches' way. That’s what Coach Muss has been irritated about a couple of times, blown assignments. At the end of the day, we have to make shots tough (for the opponent) and not get beat on their strengths. Get beat on having them do something they’re not good at. I think we are getting better but, it’s not as progressive as we want. We just have to be mature about it and correct it and get ready for Tuesday.”

Like it was against Radford, Nevada is a lopsided favorite in this game. But, Musselman said his team has to play better against UC Davis than it did against the Highlanders. Nevada is 20-0 in home non-conference games under Musselman, but the Wolf Pack's coach is worried Nevada could be in trouble if it plays at the same level Tuesday as it did Sunday, pointing out the Aggies’ 14-point win at Washington State.

“I watch their whole game against Washington State,” Musselman said. “Washington State’s talented. You watch them play and they’re smart, well coached. Coach (Jim) Les does a great job. If we don’t play, this home non-conference streak will end. I know that. If we play like we just did.”